Logitech shares surge on Q3 earnings

Logitech (Nasdaq: LOGI), which last month lowered its guidance for the third quarter, today announced results in line with its forecast and was rewarded by investors who drove share prices up 16 percent by midday.

The company has been positioning itself for a move into the enterprise and SMB videoconferencing market with its acquisition and integration of Italian company Mirial into its LifeSize product. Logitech earned $17 million, or 10 cents a share, on revenue of $589 million, down from earnings of $41 million, or 23 cents a share, on $582 million in sales a year ago.

It said it anticipates full fiscal year sales of $2.4 billion, which would be marginally higher than slightly above the $2.38 billion analyst forecasts.

The news drove share its midday price up more than 16 percent to $10.41 in New York.

"People are happy to see we're back on track," interim Chief Executive Officer Guerrino De Luca told Bloomberg. "We're showing that we can do what we said we would do and we've somewhat re-established confidence in the company." 

Operating income fell to $23 million from $51 million a year earlier; Wall Street had expected it to come in at $20.4 million. Net income fell 59 percent to $17 million, while revenue rose 1 percent to $589 million. Net income had been estimated at $16.9 million on sales of $591.8 million, according to analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

"We expect our initiatives will begin to contribute to improved performance as we move through the second half of full-year 2012," De Luca said in the statement. Second-quarter results are "consistent with our expectations and the full-year outlook."

For more:
- see this Bloomberg report

Related articles:
Logitech announces LifeSize ClearSea video conferencing will support iOS 5, iPhone 4S
LifeSize brings its videoconferencing technology to the cloud
Mirial takes ClearSea videoconferencing to the Cloud
Logitech acquires Italian video calling company Mirial